


A Messy Start

by emarosa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, I'm Bad At Summaries, Insecure Lance (Voltron), M/M, Major Character Injury, Mutual Pining, Requited Love, love bug, love bug au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-13 20:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14756166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emarosa/pseuds/emarosa
Summary: a fic where BOTH Keith and Lance get bitten by love bugs, and chaos ensues





	1. Poking the Bear

**Author's Note:**

> season 6 is taking too long honestly I need it now

It didn't even happen on a mission. The entire team had landed on an unoccupied planet so that they could all take a much needed vacation, as Allura had suggested. Everyone had been increasingly tired as of late, having responded to a lot of distress signals back-to-back and losing a lot of sleep and downtime because of it. But now, they were able to spend a day not having to worry too much about saving the universe, the weight on their shoulders being lifted (even if it was only temporary, it was still nice). 

In fact, Lance kind of wish he could've just spent the entire day in his bed. Usually, he was all for exploring new planets and all that, especially when it wasn't for a diplomatic mission or to fight the Galra. But, as of late, his emotional and mental health was deteriorating a bit. He kind of just wanted to spend a mental health day by himself, not wanting to be surrounded by the rest of his space family. 

Which sounded a bit selfish, now that he thought about it. He shouldn't be putting his own wants ahead of the others. Especially when Allura said that this mini-vacation would be a good bonding experience for them. This was about Voltron, not about him. 

Still, he hadn't had a day alone to himself in what must be years. In actuality, he didn't really know how long they've been away from the Garrison. From Earth. His home, his real family. His chest ached as he thought about them, wondered what they were doing right now. If they missed him just as much as he missed them. He felt tears well in his eyes at the thought, and he took some deep breaths to calm himself down. He needed to pull himself together, especially when they were landing the castle soon. If his teammates saw he had been crying, it would just be a huge damper on their mood. He knew how excited they all were to finally catch a break from the war. 

When he was younger, on Earth, his mother would let him take mental health days from school when he needed to. Usually he only needed one once or twice a semester, but once he had started studying to get into the Garrison, he had stopped taking them in favor of attending every single class to make sure his grades were as stellar as possible. Now, looking back, he wished he had taken more days to just stay at home, and focus on himself and his health.

Now, he felt like there was no way he could be selfish enough to do that. They were fighting a war,  _santo cielo_ , it wasn't about him anymore. So what, if he was feeling a little down sometime (or most of the time)? There were aliens out there that needed his help, his protection. 

Well, they needed Voltron's help, not him specifically. And, paladins were replaceable, so he wasn't that important. But it wasn't like he would burden the team with having to search for a new blue paladin or anything like that. So for now, he was just going to stay quiet and do what he needed to do. And if he acted like everything was fine for him, then so what? He didn't need the others worrying about him for no reason. 

As they landed, Lance was slightly disappointed that the planet had nothing that resembled a beach. It had more of a rain forest type environment, so it had pretty flora and that kind of stuff. It resembled Earth's rain forests in a way, except instead of a vast greenness, the leaves of most of the plants were different shades of blue. It actually looked kinda cool, if Lance was being honest.

"Man, this place is beautiful!" Hunk exclaimed, rushing in front of Lance to get up close and personal with some flower. Pidge began asking Coran about the species of plants here and about the chlorophyll, and Lance tuned them out. 

Glancing over at Keith, he could see him engrossed in some quiet conversation with Shiro, but he wasn't able to pick up what they were saying. Keith was brooding more than usual, and it looked like Shiro might have been teasing him. Whatever they were talking about, it seemed like both paladins were looking over in Lance's direction.

Brushing it off, Lance hoped over to where Hunk was, swinging an arm around his friend's shoulders.

"Hunk, my man, you got to take some pictures of me, this place is just my color," Lance said, flashing a signature grin as he did so. He could feel Keith's eyes rolling from where he was standing, and it made him smile even wider as a thought of how to antagonize the red paladin popped into his mind.

"Keith, buddy, stop sulking and get in on this action. It'll be a good  _bonding_ experience," Lance taunted, and Allura's eyes perked up at the words 'bonding experience.'

"Oh yes, Keith, let's take pictures!" She clapped her hands happily, and Keith swore under his breath as he made his way over. He awkwardly went and stood by Lance and Hunk, keeping a foot of distance from them, until Lance grabbed his wrist and dragged him closer. Pidge pulled out the camera device they had devised using some spare parts to Allura, before moving to Hunk's side. 

The first few pictures went fine, until Lance turned and told Keith he needed to smile like he actually meant it.

"Seriously, you're going to have horrible wrinkles from all that frowning and scowling or whatever. You may think your emo brooding is attractive to some people, but people only really date people that know how to smile every now and then."

And, maybe that was a little uncalled for, but Lance couldn't help himself. It was instinctual for him to poke the bear, as getting a rise out of his fellow paladin got his blood pumping. It was a way for him to feel included. Attention was attention, after all. And, Lance would never admit it, but he may or may not have a tiny crush on the red paladin and he was desperate for any form of interaction.

"Shut up, Lance, like you know how to actually score dates with people. How many times has your flirting struck out now? It must be in the high hundreds," Keith replied, corner of his mouth twitching upwards. The blow hit close to Lance's heart, but he didn't let it show on his face, instead clenching his jaw and telling himself he wasn't going to let tears pool in his eyes over this. He had wanted this, had pushed Keith to say these things to him. And, being the masochist he is, didn't really want Keith to stop. 

"Boys-" Shiro warned, pulling out the dad voice, but he wasn't even acknowledged in the moment.

"At least I have the confidence to put myself out there!"

"Have you ever even thought that you're over-doing it?"

"Shut up!" Lance was getting angry now, and he moved to shove Keith. And this wouldn't have been a problem, if Keith's foot hadn't caught on a rock, causing him to begin to fall backwards. Scrambling, he grabbed the front of Lance's shirt, dragging him down with him, both falling into a patch of bushes. 

Lance was ready to continue their argument, when he felt something sharp sting him on the arm. Crying out, he brought his arm close to his body. Hearing Lance's cry, Keith turned to him, prepared to ask what was wrong, when something stung him as well, making him grunt in pain as he brought a hand to his neck.

"Um, guys?" Pidge asked, uncertain of what was happening. Both Keith and Lance had opened their eyes, and were now staring at each other with blank looks. Hunk and Allura moved forward to help them stand, and their eyes never left each other. 

-

"It appears that they were both bitten by some sort of insect," Coran explained, everyone standing in the med bay. Lance and Keith were sat together on the same examination table, still staring at each other.

"Is it poisonous?" Hunk questioned.

"I don't believe so, in fact, I think I know what did this," the older Altean explained, typing something into a tablet, "you see how the bite marks are shaped?" He gestured to Lance's arm, which had a tiny purple mark, in the shape of a cartoon heart. Angling the tablet so that the others could see, he showed them images of the same-shaped bite mark. 

"They were both bitten by a love bug!" He exclaimed proudly, like this wasn't something of the slightest concern, "the side-effects will wear off in a week or so."

"A love bug?!" Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk simultaneously yelled. 

"Do they not have those on Earth?" Allura asked, like it was the most common type of bug in the universe. 

"No, they in fact, do not," Shiro sighed, rubbing his temples.

"What's going to happen to them? Are they just going to stare at each other like that the whole time?" Pidge wondered aloud.

"Well, it affects each species differently, so it's hard to tell, especially if there's no documented case of Earthlings being bit by one. Well, that, and an Earthling-Galra hybrid..." Coran trailed off. 

And then, like Lance snapped out of a trance, he shifted in his spot, leaning towards Keith before speaking.

"Are you an alien? Because your body is out of this world," he said, topping it off with a wink. Keith's face burst into the color red, causing him to stammer in response. 

"I need a camera," Pidge said immediately, a maniacal smile spreading across their face. 

This was going to be some week.  


	2. Why Are You Running?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> maybe I made the plot of this entire chapter abstract just so I could make a vine reference
> 
> you'll never know

"Hey Keith."

"Y-yeah?"

"Nice hair, want to mess it up?" Lance had flung an arm around the shorter paladin, leaning in close.

"I don't understand," Keith whispered, and Pidge lost their shit.

It had been going like this for at least half an hour, and it was a miracle the green paladin hadn't passed out from lack of oxygen, with how hard they had been laughing. Shiro had left the room because "he needed a nap," and Coran had gone to do some repairs on the castle ship.

The rest of the team, however, decided to stick around. One, because they derived entertainment from this slight disaster, and two, because Keith and Lance probably shouldn't be left alone like this.

Well, Pidge was really only there for the blackmail material. All of this was being caught on video, and it would be stored and double backed-up so it would never be lost. 

"Aren't you a little worried?" Hunk asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, neither of them are in their right minds," he explained.

"Honestly, they're not acting much more different than their normal selves," Pidge observed, "Lance is still a huge flirt and Keith is still emotionally constipated with zero social skills."

"Yeah, except Lance is flirting with Keith, which is kinda something he doesn't do," Hunk argued.

"What are you so worried about? If all they do is flirt this entire time, what harm will be done?"

"I'm worried that this will extend past flirting. Neither one of them can really consent to anything like this. Don't you think that'll be bad for both them and the entire team when they snap out of it?" 

"That's... actually a good point, Hunk," Allura finally gave some input, "but right now we're monitoring them, so as long as we keep a close eye on them, everything should be fine..."

-

The paladins were now eating dinner, the table eerily silent for once. Usually, Lance would be cracking jokes, talking about things that happened throughout the day, and everyone else would jump in here and there throughout. Now, everyone was tense, with the exception of Lance and Keith, who were lovingly staring into each other's eyes as they ate. Which was slightly unsettling.

"Lance, focus on your food," Shiro ordered lightly, and Lance turned to face the team leader.

"Sorry, it's hard to with this snack sitting next to me," the Cuban sighed. Keith didn't elicit any sort of reaction to the comment whatsoever. Everyone else groaned. 

Standing from his chair suddenly, Lance grabbed Keith's arm, pulling him up as well, and then proceeding to drag him out of the room.

"L-Lance, where are you guys going?" Hunk questioned, and Lance laughed, before breaking out into a full-on run. Keith was laughing, too, the sound echoing off the halls. 

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," he complained, "We have to go after them, don't we?"

-

"Lance? Keith?" Pidge called, wandering in some wing of the castle they had never been in. They had probably only been looking for twenty minutes now, but it shouldn't have been this hard to try and find those two idiots. 

 _"They're not in either of their rooms,"_ Shiro said over the comms. 

 _"The med bay is clear,"_ Hunk said. 

"Has anyone checked the hangars?" Pidge asked, getting no's in response.

_"Well, let's all meet up there."_

 -

The hangars were dead silent. The entire team, sans the two paladins they were searching for, were huffing and panting from literally running all over the place. Like, the castle was big, but it couldn't possibly be so big that it was impossible to find someone. 

"All the pods are still here. Nothing has left the castle," Allura said. 

"What if they're in one of the lions?" Hunk asked, exasperated, "There's no way that Red or Blue would just let us in."

At that moment, Pidge decided to reach out to Green, emphasizing how serious the situation was. They couldn't lose Team Purple when they were hyped up on weird alien bug venom/juice. 

"Green says they're not in either of their lions," they said.

"Well," Shiro sighed, at a loss for words for what they were supposed to do. 

Suddenly, laughed filled the halls behind them. Turning around, they could see Lance and Keith running away from them. 

"Why are you running? WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?!" Shiro yelled, taking after them, the others following suit. 

But, just like before, they quickly lost them. 

 -

"I give up," Pidge sighed, collapsing next to Hunk on the couch, "Coran, do you have any sort of explanation for this?"

"Nope, sorry young paladin," he replied, twirling the end of his mustache.

"You guys, I found them," Shiro burst into the room, face fire engine red, "But I've seen things I'll never be able to unsee."

"Quiznak, what happened?"

"They were in the training room, and I'm not going to talk about it. I locked them both in their respective rooms to try and keep them apart." 

-

Keith was currently dying. He registered that something was wrong, deep in the conscious part of his mind, but it was like he wasn't the one in control at the wheel of his brain. He couldn't get himself up off the floor, it was like his limbs weren't responding. He was extremely hot, and his clothes were drenched in sweat, but that wasn't even the worst part. His nerves were screaming with pain, like they had been electrocuted and were now shorting out, burning with fire. 

He couldn't recall his last memory. It was all a blur. He remembered stopping at some planet, for a break from the intergalactic space war, but after that it was completely blank. But, going over his symptoms, he realized he had probably been poisoned. 

He couldn't bring himself to call out for help either. His tongue felt like thick cotton in his mouth, and he couldn't command his voice to cooperate, it was lost somewhere within him. 

-

In Lance's room, the blue paladin wasn't fairing much better either, having passed out just moments ago. 

 

 


	3. Dying in LA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Panic! at the Disco's new album is amazing and I'm seeing them in literally ten days I might actually die
> 
> also sorry this took almost a whole month to update... I'm basically working a full-time job (37 hours a week,,, because my boss wants me to actually die) and my job is physically and emotionally draining and I honestly just want to sleep for a week

"You did what?!" Coran shrieked, bolting out of the lounge and bee-lining towards the bedrooms. Shiro had just explained what he had done when he had found the two paladins, locking them away from each other so they wouldn't do something stupid while under the influence of strange alien bug venom. Seeing how panicked Coran had gotten immediately after this explanation, the rest of the team quickly chased after him. 

The mustached Altean slammed his palm on the scanner next to Keith's door, and the sight before them was not pretty. Keith was slumped on the floor, curled up in front of his door. His head was resting in a pool of vomit and blood, and his bangs clung to his forehead, which was sheen with sweat. He was immobile for the most part, breath weak and erratic. 

"You should never separate people under the effects of a love bug bite," Coran said in a rush, hooking his hands under Keith's arms and dragging the unconscious paladin into the hall, over towards Lance's room. He was grateful that the two had adjoining rooms as he scanned his palm on Lance's room scanner, because it meant they could be reunited quickly. 

But as Lance's door slid opened with a rush of air, it was revealed that it was not Keith who was the worst off of the two. 

Lying on his back, Lance was pale, lips tinted blue. He was completely still, chest making no movement that indicated it was rising. Until suddenly, Lance sucked in a breath of air with a harsh gasp, and then went still again. A few seconds later, it happened again.

"Shit, he's having agonal breathing!" Shiro barged forward, but Coran grabbed him, pushing him back. Grabbing Keith, he dragged him over to Lance.

"What's agonal breathing?" Hunk whispered to Pidge, who elbowed him in the ribs.

"Did you not pay attention in health? It means he's not actually breathing," Pidge snapped, in obvious distress over the situation.

But, the second the two in question made skin-to-skin contact, they instantaneously recovered. Lance, still unconscious, started coughing, before his breathing evened out. Keith, on the other hand, sat up, eyes blinking in confusion as he took in his surroundings. Then, seeing Lance laying next to him on the floor, he made a noise of exclamation.

"Lance! Are you alright?" 

Lance stirred, sitting up with Keith's help, and the second he opened his eyes and looked into Keith's, they were back to being a daze.

"I am now, sweetheart," Lance smiled, bringing up a hand to brush his thumb against Keith's cheek.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Pidge yelled, "After all of that, they're still like this?"

"I think it would be best if we just left them alone," Shiro sighed, resigned to the fact that all they could do at this point was just wait it out, and try to not interfere again after the disaster that had just befallen them. 

-

It was only a few hours later, when the effects of the venom finally wore off. The two were laying on Lance's bed, cuddling. It was like being doused with a bucket of ice cold water when it happened. Falling from Cloud 9, Lance went from staring lovingly into Keith's eyes to staring at him in confusion.

"What happened?" he groaned, feeling a minor headache coming on. He sat up, and Keith mirrored his actions. 

"What are we doing?" Keith responded to his question with a question, and then the memories flooded them all at once.

"Oh jeez, I am so sorry Keith," Lance stood up frantically, feeling mortified as he realized all that he had done to his teammate over the last few days. 

"Why are you apologizing?" 

"Because, I feel awful. I can't believe I did that, _Santo Cielo,_  I'm a horrible person."

"Um, Lance," Keith stated, "It's okay, really. I don't mind anything that happened. Besides, we were both under the influence, and everything was stuff that I was willing to do with you."

"Really? Even though I'm... a guy?" Lance was beet red, and avoiding making eye contact.

"That's the problem here? You know I'm gay, right? If anything, you should be the one that's uncomfortable."

"Why would I be uncomfortable? I'm bi."

Again, the two stared at each other, before bursting out into laughter. It was one of those situations were it really wasn't that funny, until it just was. 

When the laughter finally died down, Keith spoke again. "You know, I really wouldn't mind if stuff like that, happened again. Between us."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

-

When the two walked into the kitchen, hand in hand, Pidge groaned.

"Seriously, when will it wear off?" 

"Dude, it has worn off. We're back to normal now," Lance clarified. 

"Then why- Ohhhhh," Hunk smiled, happy for the now couple. 

"I can't believe it took you two getting bit by a weird insect to finally stop pining and get together," Pidge complained, but with a smirk on their face.

"I wasn't pining!" Keith protested, but was met with knowing looks. He groaned, okay, maybe just a little, but still. 

"Wait 'til Shiro hears that he lost the bet," Hunk said excitedly. 

"You guys bet on us?!" Lance screeched, but honestly wasn't too surprised at this revelation. 

 


End file.
